InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 4: Justification ❯ The Tournament ( Chapter 25 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Kichiro laughed as he leaned to the side to avoid Ryomaru's punches.  Ryomaru might be the better fighter, but Kichiro had always been faster.  The older of the twins was growing more and more irritated, and Kichiro's laughter only served to fuel his rapidly rising temper.

"Quit dodging and fight back, baka!" Ryomaru grumbled.

"I could do this all day," Kichiro goaded.

Ryomaru growled.  Barreling toward Kichiro as his claws raked through the air, Ryomaru growled in frustration when Kichiro sidestepped the attack.  

"That all you've got, Ryo-chan?" Toga asked, leaning on his halberd.  Standing off to the side between InuYasha and Sesshoumaru, he shook his head and sighed.

"Shut up," Ryomaru growled as he swung at his brother again.  Kichiro laughed at him.  InuYasha rolled his eyes.  "I'll sic my cat on you."

"Oi!" Toga exclaimed.  "Don't make me come over there to kick your ass."

"I think it's the cooking classes," Nezumi added.  "They're slowing him down."

InuYasha snorted.  "Keh!"

"Why is he taking those classes?" Sierra asked as she turned to stare at Nezumi.

"Well . . ."

"Wench!" Ryomaru hollered.

Nezumi shrugged.

The door opened, and Gin slipped in, dragging Bellaniece along behind her.  Kichiro's head snapped to the side as her presence cut through his concentration.  Ryomaru saw it as his opening, and with a well-placed and harder than necessary fist, he sent his brother flying back across the dojo and into a wall.

"Damn, Ryo," Kichiro grumbled as he sat up and shook his head.

Ryomaru crossed his arms over his chest and grinned.  "Oi, I totally owned you, Kichi-Kichi-ku."

"The hell."

"Yeah, yeah, bitching is for weaklings."

"Will you stop fucking doing that?" InuYasha interrupted, crossing his arms over his chest as he stomped toward his sons.  Ryomaru glanced down, fingers stilled as he grasped the diamond barbell nipple stud on his left nipple.  He'd been pushing it from side to side—a habit that InuYasha despised—and Ryomaru jerked his hand down.  "I hate that damn thing," he growled.

"Nez likes it.  Take it up with her."

InuYasha turned his head to glare at his son's mate.  Nezumi blushed and stared at her hands despite the secretive little smile on her lips.

"Your brother has a nipple stud?" Bellaniece whispered as she leaned toward Gin.

Gin giggled.  "Yeah . . . Papa hates it."

"Oh, that's so . . . bad," Bellaniece mused.

"I told you; the twins were bad."

Bellaniece nodded, gazing around at the assembly of bare-chested Izayoi and Inutaisho men.  She had to allow, however grudgingly, that they were very impressive; every last one of them.  Ryomaru was interesting.  The nipple stud added a certain amount of arrogant danger to his powerful presence.  Toga seemed more aloof except when he smiled at Sierra.  Sesshoumaru looked rather bored.  InuYasha was too busy arguing with his oldest son over the nipple stud that Ryomaru was fiddling with again.

'There's one man you haven't looked at yet.'

Bellaniece wrinkled her nose and willed herself not to blush.  'And I'm not going to, either.'

'But Belle . . . you should.'

'Why would I do that?  If I looked, and he saw me . . . I don't even want to think about the comments he'd make then.'

'Just for a second.'

Bellaniece grimaced.  '. . . Fine, but only for a second.'

So she peeked.  Shifting her gaze to the side without turning her head, Bellaniece meant to glance at him then to quickly look away just as fast.  Her eyes didn't get the message, however, and when she located him, her eyes widened.  His clothes hid a lot, she mused as her head turned without her realizing it.  Like his twin, and like their father, Kichiro wasn't huge or bulky by any means, but he wasn't skinny, either.

With his hair down, it should have been nearly impossible to tell the twins apart.  The difference was in their stances.  Ryomaru was definitely more careless in his demeanor, more casual, while Kichiro held himself with a quieter but no less commanding air.  Well-defined muscles moved with symmetry, in a cadence of combined grace and power.  She'd foolishly thought that Kichiro, being a surgeon and more of a city-boy than his twin, would be a little less physically intimidating.  That was hardly the case.  Kichiro . . . He could certainly hold his own in that department . . .

Bellaniece's eyes widened as her lips parted, and she gaped at the one thing that captured and held her attention.  'His belly button . . . It . . . Wow . . .'

"Belle?" Gin said, tapping Bellaniece's arm.

Bellaniece couldn't drag her eyes off Kichiro.  "He has an outie?"

"A what?"

"His belly button sticks out—an outie."

"Oh, yeah . . . You think that's neat?" Gin squeaked.

"Does he laugh if you poke it?"

"What?" Gin choked.

Bellaniece giggled.  "Never mind . . . It just reminds me of the Pillsbury Dough Boy . . ."

"What's that?"

"American commercials . . . He's the mascot for a food company.  Cake mixes.  Right up your alley."

Gin shook her head in confusion.  "I still don't get it . . ."

"That's interesting . . ." Bellaniece trailed off, unable to tear her gaze away from Kichiro's outie belly button.

'Earth to Belle . . . Are you listening?'

Kichiro rolled his head from side to side like his back was bothering him.  Bellaniece pressed her hand over her heart.  'Hmm?'

'You know you're doing it, right?'

'What?'

'Fangirling him.'

Bellaniece blinked, the words of her youkai like a dousing of cold water.  'I am not.'

'Uh huh . . .'

The men were arguing about who was fighting next, it seemed.  Bellaniece rolled her eyes.  "Are they always like that?" she asked, leaning toward Gin.

"Kami, yes," Nezumi piped up, rolling her eyes as she nudged Sierra.

Sierra snorted.  "Yeah, they are.  Boys will be boys, I suppose."

"They're not so tough," Bellaniece remarked with a smile.  "My father could beat them."

All the talking in the dojo ceased as the five men slowly turned to stare at her.

"What was that, little girl?" Kichiro asked, the first to break the silence.

Bellaniece smiled insincerely at the hanyou.  "I said my father could beat you all."

"In what world?" he scoffed.

"Oh, please!  You know he could!  He almost—He could," she insisted again.

"I don't think—" Kichiro began.

"She has a point," Sesshoumaru finally cut in.  "Zelig is the North American tai-youkai.  He'd certainly be able to beat one of your ilk," he added, lowering his disdainful glare at his half-brother.  "This Sesshoumaru, on the other hand, would not lose to him."

InuYasha snorted.  "Bastard against bastard?  Bring him on."

"Are you going to call him?" Gin asked in a whisper as she leaned toward Bellaniece.

Bellaniece grinned.  "Should I?"

Gin scowled as she thought it over.   "Yeah, I think you should," she replied.  "I mean, if he's really as tough as you said . . ."

"Of course he is!" Bellaniece assured Gin as she dug her cell phone out of her pocket.  'At least, I think he is . . .'

'You think he is?  That's not a vote of confidence,' her youkai pointed out as Bellaniece dialed the phone number.

'Well, I haven't really seen Daddy fight, but he is tai-youkai . . . I'm sure he knows how.'

'And he did best Kichiro last night . . . easily, might I add.'

"Hello?"

"Daddy?"

Cain paused for a moment before answering.  "Bellaniece?  Is everything okay?"

She smiled.  "Yes, fine . . . I just thought maybe you'd like to come over here because they didn't believe me."

"Who didn't?"

"Anyone . . . I said that you could take them all, and they don't believe me."

Cain sighed.  "Bellaniece . . ."

"He's not coming?" Gin asked.  "Is he afraid to fight my papa?"

"Not hardly!" Cain grumbled.  "Afraid of her papa?  Pfft!"

"Will you come over then?" Bellaniece asked.

Cain thought it over.  "Yeah, fine."

Gin giggled as Bellaniece snapped her phone closed and dropped it back in her pocket again.  "I think it bothered him, that you thought he was afraid of your father," Bellaniece commented.

"Papa's the best," she assured Bellaniece.  "He defeated Naraku."

"Not alone, he didn't," Shippou scoffed.

"Well, no, but he still did it."

Bellaniece shook her head.  "Naraku?"

Gin shrugged.  "He's the one who tried to steal the Shikon no Tama and all that.  He was evil."

Bellaniece nodded.  She vaguely remembered hearing Cain talk about that old legend.  She hadn't realized it was true.  "Wow, then he really is good."

"Kagome-chan and Kikyou-sama killed Naraku," Shippou informed them.  "InuYasha was just . . . there."

"Oi!" InuYasha bellowed.

Shippou held up his hands.  "Was it something I said?"

"I could beat them," Gin remarked, nodding curly at the boys as Toga and Ryomaru—the current combatants—circled each other, tossing out taunts and generally making nuisances of themselves in the process.

"Why did he say that the nipple stud is yours?" Bellaniece asked Nezumi.

Nezumi grinned.  "I told him to get it, thinking he wouldn't."

Bellaniece shook her head.  "I don't follow."

Nezumi blushed.  "We had an . . . unusual beginning."

Sierra sighed.  "Took him long enough to figure everything out."

Gin wrinkled her nose.  "Everyone tried to tell him.  Kichiro-nii-chan tried to beat it into him . . . baka."

Ryomaru separated the two blades of his sword and swung them both in his hands.  "He's such a show-off," Nezumi grumbled.

Toga demonstrated a few moves of his own.  The spear end of his halberd whistled through the air as he tossed it up and caught it, leveling it at his cousin in one fluid movement.

"They're as bad about showing off as InuYasha," Shippou remarked with a shake of his head.

"I heard that, runt," InuYasha growled without turning away from the fight.

Shippou laughed as Rin shook her head.

Ryomaru flipped back out of striking range as Toga shot forward.  The hanyou landed in a crouch and kicked a foot out, catching Toga's ankle.  Toga fell back but rolled to his feet before Ryomaru could close in on him.  Toga hooked the end of the halberd against the blade of the Teishu, and the sword clattered on the practice mat near his father's feet.

"I win," Toga declared as he thumped the end of the halberd against the floor.

"You didn't win," Ryomaru countered, swinging Seishu as he lunged for his cousin.  The sword clanged against the halberd, and Toga's weapon flew out of his hand as Ryomaru strode over to retrieve the other half of his twin blade.

Toga snorted.  "Keh!  That was a cheap shot!" he scoffed.

"Get over it, Toga!  You didn't completely disarm me," Ryomaru gloated as he fastened the smaller swords back together into the larger version known as Ryoteishuseishu—the double bladed sword forged from both his father and his uncle's fangs.

Kichiro turned to stare over his shoulder at Bellaniece, and she shifted but didn't move.  She couldn't read his expression but he looked like he wanted to say something.  She wasn't sure what he was trying to say, was even more uncertain how she knew that was what he was doing.  Bellaniece crossed her arms over her chest and looked away for a moment.  In the end, he turned away.  Bellaniece bit her lip and sighed.

Gin tugged Bellaniece's arm.  "My turn."

Bellaniece frowned and shook her head as Gin's look of grim determination dissuaded her from remarking as Gin headed toward the men.


"Come on, nii-chan," Gin called as she rolled up the sleeves of her father's fire rat haori and pulled the Kusarigama from the holster slung around her hips.  The strange undercurrent of the looks passing between Kichiro and Bellaniece had reminded her just a little too vividly of the unfairness in her brother's complete and systematic condemnation of the girl in question.  There wasn't a doubt in Gin's mind that Kichiro had judged Bellaniece too harshly, and even if he didn't want to hear it, she just had to let him know what she thought of his absolutely boorish behavior.  "I've still got a bone to pick with you."

Kichiro lowered his chin, eyes widening as he regarded his sister.  "Oh, really . . ."

"Yeah, I can take you," she insisted.

"Bring it on, baby-chan," he retorted as he retrieved his sword and tossed the scabbard aside.

"Oi!  Hurt your sister, and I'll have your ass," InuYasha hollered.

Kichiro adjusted his grip on Nishuto's hilt and wiggled his left hand.  "Whatcha waitin' for?  The Kich is too fast for the baby, huh?"

Gin whipped the lead ball of the Kusarigama over her head and stalked around her brother.  "You'll think you're too fast, baka," Gin countered, whipping the ball toward Kichiro's head.  He leaned back in time to avoid the flying metal.

"Aw, ish da bay-bee gool angwy?"

She erupted in a growl as her brother kept baby-talking her.   "You're such a jerk, nii-chan," she bit out.

"Ah, but I'm a fast jerk," he laughed as he avoided her again.

Gin growled and lunged at Kichiro.  He jumped out of her reach.  "Wait, you're really angry, aren't you?"

"Of course I am," Gin hissed quietly, careful to keep her voice down as she stalked her brother again.  "I'm not a baby anymore."

"Yeah, you're not a baby anymore," Kichiro echoed as he blocked the ball again.

"And what you said . . . It wasn't fair.  Bellaniece didn't make me do anything I didn't want to do, just so you know."

"You're mad at me?  Over her?" Kichiro asked, eyes darting to the side—to Bellaniece—before he looked back at Gin again.

"What do you think?"

Kichiro ducked the flying ball once more.  "Look, you don't—"

Gin screwed up her face in a determined scowl and spun around to send the ball flying at him once more.  This time, though, he wasn't expecting it. Wrapping around his ankle before Gin gave the chain a good, solid tug, Kichiro grunted as his feet flew out from under him.  His elbow hit the floor hard, and Nishuto flew out of his hand, clattering away.  Before he could move, she planted her bare foot in the center of his chest and pressed down, her eyes glowing with unspent irritation.

"I win," Gin gritted out as she jerked the chain loose from Kichiro's foot and wrapped it around her arm.

"Hell," Kichiro groaned.  "Damn, Gin . . ."

She lifted her chin and tossed him one last dark look before spinning around on her heel to stomp away.  Cain stood beside Bellaniece, staring at her in unabashed amazement.  Gin squared her shoulders and headed toward them as Toga and Ryomaru took turns teasing Kichiro about losing to a girl.

Bellaniece tried to hide her amusement but couldn't help the little smile that slipped out as she scrunched up her shoulders and grasped Gin's arm.  "That was . . . cool," she murmured.  Gin shrugged off the praise before peeking up at Cain, who still looked rather shocked.

"Hi," she said, trying to ignore the nervous fluttering in her stomach as she shifted from one foot to the other.

"So . . . The cake fairy can fight."

Gin broke into a timid little grin..  "I told you I could."

"Not bad."

"Zelig."

Gin jumped and looked back over her shoulder as Sesshoumaru strode over to them.

"Sesshoumaru, you look well."

Sesshoumaru inclined his head in acknowledgement.  "And this is your little girl?  Bellaniece."

Cain's eyes sparkled, and he nodded.  "Yes."

"Care for some sport?"

Staring over Gin's head at the assembled combatants who were still busy needling Kichiro over his second defeat of the day, Cain shrugged carelessly.  "Doesn't look like much competition," he remarked.

"There's my papa," Gin piped up.  "He's competition."

Cain smiled tightly.  "Oh, yeah . . . him . . ."

"You need not fight an ignorant baka like InuYasha," Sesshoumaru scoffed.  "I'll challenge you."

The youkai seemed surprised.  "Really . . . The last time you challenged me was . . ."

Sesshoumaru smiled.  "When you broke your sword."

Cain nodded.  "That's what I thought.  All right . . ."

"Wait, Daddy!" Bellaniece said as she caught Cain's hand.  "You should take off your shirt, too."

He narrowed his gaze on his daughter.  "Why would I do that?"

Bellaniece shrugged.  "Better mobility.  You don't what them to have any advantages, do you?"

Cain rolled his eyes.  Gin looked around wildly—everywhere but directly at Cain, trying to ignore the soft rustle of fabric as he unbuttoned his shirt.

"Oh, Cain!  What a pleasant surprise," Kagura said as she and Kagome stepped through the door with Cassidy and Coral in tow.  "Kagome, this is Bellaniece's father and an old friend of the family, Cain Zelig.  Cain, this is Sesshoumaru's sister-in-law, Kagome."

"We've met, sort of," Kagome remarked with a bright smile.

"Not formally, I'm afraid," Cain commented.

"So you're the North American—stripes," Kagome murmured, eyes widening in mild shock.  She gaped at the teal stripes that wrapped around his sides as he shrugged off his button down white shirt and handed it to Bellaniece.

"Kago-o-oh, my," Kagura trailed off as she finally saw where Kagome was staring.  Sesshoumaru shot the women a scrutinizing look and muttered something Gin couldn't hear.

"Oi, wench!" InuYasha snarled as he stomped over to the gathering.  "Just what do you think you're doing?" he demanded as he grabbed Kagome's hand and dragged her to the side.

Gin stared at her parents before slowly looking around.  It wasn't just Kagome and Kagura who had noticed Cain's stripes.  Both Nezumi and Sierra were gawking quite openly at the youkai while Rin fluttered a hand to shut Shippou up.  Gin pushed aside a strange sense of irritation that the rest of the women had apparently noticed that Cain was, well, for lack of a better term, hot.

Gin frowned and dared a glance at Cain.  He was talking to Sesshoumaru without seeming to notice that every female in the building was now quite shamelessly staring at his youkai crests with the exception of his daughter, who was trying her hardest not to look at Kichiro.

Ryomaru and Toga were too busy glowering at their respective mates to pay attention to Kichiro, who apparently hadn't learned his lesson from being knocked down twice.  The miscreant twin reached around Toga and Ryomaru, grabbing nipples and twisting hard.

"Son of a—" Toga growled as he spun away from his cousin and knocked his hand away.

Ryomaru wasn't as fortunate.  The nipple Kichiro had grabbed was the one that had the nipple stud.  The hanyou howled in pain as he swung a fist in his brother's direction.  Kichiro let go, stumbling away as he doubled over in laughter.

Toga stalked him on one side while Ryomaru closed in on the other.  Kichiro altered his course and retreated to the relative safety of his mother, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her as he winked at his twin and his cousin.

"What are you doing, Kichiro?" Kagome asked as she patted his arms that were securely hooked around her neck.

"I just wanted to hug my mama . . ." he schmoozed.  Gin rolled her eyes.  Bellaniece looked stunned.

"Oi!  You can't use Mother as a shield, you coward," Ryomaru grumbled as he stalked toward his brother.

InuYasha slapped a hand into his son's chest to stop him.  "No rough housing around your mother," he growled.

Toga snorted.  "He can't hide behind her forever," he told Ryomaru.

Kichiro twitched his ears, kissed Kagome's cheek loudly, and waved at his cousin and brother without making a move away from Kagome.  Toga rolled his eyes.  Ryomaru snorted.

The two tai-youkai prowled around one another.  Cain was slightly taller than Sesshoumaru, but Sesshoumaru still moved with subtle dexterity.  Sesshoumaru drew Tenseiga.  Cain was using one of the many swords that InuYasha kept around for practice.  Blunt-bladed to avoid serious injury, they were the ones that the children had all grown up using.

Sesshoumaru struck first, whipping around in a circle as he brought Tenseiga up.  Cain easily blocked, sparks shooting from the fissure where the blades met, as Sesshoumaru pushed him.  Sliding back a couple of feet, Cain grimaced as he lowered his sword to parry again.

Gin bit her lip, ears flattening as the screech of metal slipping against metal echoed through the dojo.  She opened her mouth to cheer for Cain but snapped it closed before she could.  She ought to root for her uncle, but she wanted to encourage Cain, too.  The conflicting desires were unsettling, and in the end, she didn't say anything at all.

Cain spun around to launch a counterattack.  Sesshoumaru grinned as he swung Tenseiga.  Four consecutive crashes rang out as they battled each other back and forth.  Bellaniece gasped softly as Sesshoumaru nearly knocked the sword from Cain's grip.  Cain held on and flicked the sword in a small circle that might have disarmed a lesser opponent.  Sesshoumaru let go only to catch Tenseiga in his left hand as he slowly shook his head and smiled a little wider.

The soft mewl of a cat drew Cain's attention.  Swiveling his head to locate the animal, he stated in raised-eyebrow surprise as Yukitora strolled into the dojo.  Sesshoumaru caught the practice sword with the tip of Tenseiga.  Cain absently flicked the sword in a small circle to avoid being disarmed as he watched the cat run over to Ryomaru and leap onto the hanyou's shoulder.  She pushed herself up on her hind legs, leaning on Ryomaru's head to steady herself.  He flicked one ear to lure the cat's batting paw but continued shifting his glare from the battle to his twin brother and back again.  When no one else reacted to the animal, Cain's surprise morphed into a look of befuddlement, but he finally shifted his attention back to his opponent.

'They're just playing with each other,' Gin thought as Sesshoumaru blocked Cain's attack.  Sesshoumaru launched a series of short blows with Tenseiga that Cain repelled with remarkable ease.  The two inu-youkai moved back and forth with an almost choreographed precision.

Movement caught Gin's gaze, and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Toga had retrieved his halberd.  Kichiro had finally come out from behind Kagome to watch the fight, and while Ryomaru seemed to have forgotten that he owed Kichiro, Toga hadn't.  He eyed his weapon for a few moments then spun it casually.  The action caught the tie that held Kichiro's hakama up, and Gin slapped a hand over her eyes as her brother's pants fell.

"My . . ." Bellaniece murmured, fingers fluttering over her lips as she slowly shook her head.

"Oi, Toga!" Kichiro growled as he grabbed his hakama and held them up with one hand and swung blindly at their cousin with the other one.

Toga chortled as he leaned on the halberd.  Ryomaru snorted.  "Ni-i-i-i-ice."

"Oh, for the love of . . . You could have worn underwear," InuYasha grumbled as he glowered at Kichiro.

"Underwear's too binding for practice," Kichiro retorted, red-faced.

The battle was forgotten as Kichiro lurched after Toga as Ryomaru ran up behind his twin and ripped his pants down—again.

"Hey!" Cain hollered as he tossed the sword down and stomped toward the three.  Kichiro growled, tying the short ends of the belt together to hold up his pants.  "There are women present!"

Ryomaru took advantage of the situation to squeeze and twist Kichiro's nipple.  "Ain't nothin' they haven't seen before," he insisted as he arched his back to avoid Kichiro's mad grab.

"I bet to differ," Cain stated.  "My daughter is right there!"

Ryomaru grabbed again as Kichiro ducked out of the way.  The North American tai-youkai growled as the older of the twins managed to grasp and twist his nipple instead.  Hand streaking out in a blur of movement, Cain caught Ryomaru by one ear, Kichiro by his hair, and shook them both.  Ryomaru started to laugh but howled instead when Yukitora bit into his ear and hung on.  Kichiro tried to twist out of Cain's grasp but couldn't escape.  Toga muttered a few choice words and hooked his arms under Cain's shoulders, trying to restrain him from actually hurting the baka twins.

InuYasha rolled his eyes and shook his head.  Kagome buried her face in her hands.  Sesshoumaru stared at the spectacle in something akin to amused disgust.  Kagura heaved a sigh since she had seen this sort of display more than once.  Sierra and Nezumi didn't look like they had any idea, just what to think of it all.  Shippou's cheeks puffed out and sucked in as he struggled not to laugh.  Rin pursed her lips and blinked helplessly.  Bellaniece was blushing but looked rather entertained.  Gin couldn't help but wish that the floor would open up and swallow her.  Drat her embarrassing family, anyway . . .

'Look on the bright side, doll.'

'There is one?'

'Sure . . . you've gotten to ogle Cain all afternoon, and no one has been the wiser.'

Gin made a face.  'Of course not.  They were all too busy ogling, too.'

'Oh-ho!  Jealous, are we?'

'No!'

'Good.  You shouldn't be.  After all, Cain did kiss you, remember?'

Gin blushed and scuffed her toe on the floor.  'Yeah . . . he did, didn't he?'